Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe: From the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth Century — John Shaqi
Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe: From the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth CenturyHewitt, John
History
Ancient Armour and Weapons in Europe: From the Iron Period of the Northern Nations to the End of the Thirteenth Century
Hewitt, John
Armor; Weapons
Knives of various sizes are constantly found in the Northern graves.
The smaller were evidently for domestic purposes, for they are
discovered in female interments as well as in those of the other sex.
But the larger kind appear to have been used as daggers. They have
been more frequently observed in the continental tombs than in those
of our island; and, as they very rarely appear in the pictures of
the Anglo-Saxons, we may conclude that they formed no necessary part
of the equipment of these warriors. A fine example of this weapon
is given on our ninth Plate (fig. 1,) from the Ozingell Cemetery.
It is sixteen inches in length, of iron, and is provided with a
cross-piece. In the following group from the Anglo-Saxon and Latin
Psalter of the Duc de Berri, in the Paris Library, the spearman's
adversary appears to be employing exactly such an instrument as
the example from the Kentish grave[89]. Figure 2 in our Plate is a
two-edged dagger of iron from the Faussett collection. It was found
near Ash-by-Sandwich, and measures ten inches in the blade. Figures
3 and 4 are Ancient Irish. The first is the ordinary type of this
weapon, of which many have been found. The second is remarkable from
the retention of its handle, which is of wood, and ornamented with
carving. Both these are from Mr. Wakeman's paper on Irish Antiquities
in vol. iii. of the _Collectanea Antiqua_. Figures 5 and 6 are German
examples, from the Selzen graves. The first is very remarkable from
the ring at the extremity of the tang. In Denmark, daggers have
been found of a transitional period, the bulk of the blade being of
bronze, edged on both sides with iron. Other Danish examples are
given in Mr. Worsaae's "Copenhagen Museum," pages 66 and 97. In Dr.
Bähr's explorations in Livonia, a dagger of iron was discovered with
its bronze sheath. (See _Die Gräber der Liven_, Plate XV.) Gregory
of Tours, in the sixth century, mentions in several places that the
Frankish soldiers carried large knives at their belts; and there
seems no reason to doubt that the examples from the graves are the
very "cultri validi" of the historian. Of these Frankish war-knives,
several specimens are figured in the _Normandie Souterraine_. They
closely resemble those found in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and
England. The handles appear to have been of wood. One of the Frankish
examples still had portions of the wooden haft remaining[90]. Other
specimens of the Northern _cultelli_ will be found collected on Plate
LVIII. of the second volume of the _Collectanea Antiqua_. Some of
these weapons appear to have been inlaid with copper or other metal;
for which purpose one or more incised lines are formed near the back
of the blade. An Anglo-Saxon knife found in excavations in the city
of London, and engraved (fig. 3.) in the Plate of the _Collectanea
Antiqua_ already noticed, still retains the bronze inlaying in the
channels of its blade.
[Illustration:
PLATE IX.]
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